When I was 9 my dad took me to a New Kids On The Block concert in Austin, TX. Five years later the group broke up. Almost 15 years after that, they have reunited and are touring again. I wasn't crushed and I haven't obsessed, but I admit I was very excited when earlier this year they announced a new CD and tour. They were on the Today Show and weren't very good, so I didn't hold high expectations, but no way was I going to miss a concert if it came to town. Then Gina and Chrissy Russell emailed me and asked if I wanted to go to a concert with them in San Antonio. Heck ya! This week as the days got closer to Friday, I started to get more and more excited. Isn't it every girls dream to see the band she loved reunited again? I dug up my old cassettes. Yes- I said cassettes! Luckily my car still has a cassette player. I popped "Step By Step" in on Thursday. I was surprised that I remembered all the words. Then I started looking up stuff on the Internet. YouTube has been my best friend. They have two music videos of new stuff, and they looked real good! I watched interviews and looked at the NKOTB TV on their website with clips the guys film themselves backstage before concerts. By Thursday night I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve.
Gina and Chrissy arrived on Friday about 3:30pm. I haven't really hung out with either of them since I was in middle school, but it sure was easy to take our trip down memory lane and play the tapes in the car. We stopped to get dinner and arrived at the stadium about 7:00.
The opening act for the opening act was aweful. She was Jamaican and looked like a woman still trying to wear a tu-tu she had when she was 5. I am glad she left after 3 songs. Then Natasha Bedingfield came out for about 30 minutes. She was good.
While we were waiting for the real show to start, they had a screen that you could text a message to enter a contest and see your message on the screen. That was fun. There were some pretty obsessed people there. Comments like- "I named my first child after Jordan", "Danny, I want to kiss your muscles", "Donnie, I am single and so are you", "Joe and I locked eyes in Vegas and it was amazing". That was very entertaining to watch.
Then the show began...13,000+ screaming woman...lots of lights and smoke when the came guys were lifted up from behind the stage. They started by singing "Boyfriend" from their new CD "Block". Oooooo, the looked good. "If you're single, single, you don't gotta be alone tonight...for the next couple minutes, girl I'ma be your boyfriend". They as soon as that was over the immediately transistioned in to an old song- "Favorite Girl". This song Jordan hits some very high notes. I didn't think he would be able to do it. I was wrong. They went on for quite awhile singing old songs and looking great. The sure do dance a lot and looked great doing it.
In the middle they somehow appeared on a revolving circular stage on the stadium floor and sang 2 new songs and and an old one with a piano. The old song was "Tonight", Gina's favorite. At the end of that they ran through the crowd back to stage and when they got back on the stage they brought a fan with them. Then they went back and forth,most old mixed occasionally with new. Joe got to do a couple solos on stage, Jordan did some solos, and Donnie did a solo. I don't really like him. Danny did a break dancing solo. Jon was just sang and dance in the back. He looks a bit out of place, but still easy on the eyes. I watched an interview of him on Oprah talking about severe panic attack. (He even had one right there with Oprah then consoling him.)
They sang "You got the right stuff", "Please don't go girl", Hangin' Tough, Summertime, Baby I believe in you, Step By Step, and on and on... One of the highlights was Jordan's solo of "Baby I believe in you". Jordan stood on the stage with his six-pack revealed as his unbuttoned shirt blew in the wind, he sang- "I'm so in love girl, with you, you, you, all of you." I turned to Gina and said- I can die now! If anybody knows, a certain individual I went to my first New Kids on the Block Concert with yelled out this same thing and I was mortified! But this time, I know he was singing to me. Okay, so me and thousands of other 25+ year old women.
Two hours of fun. Two hour of being swooned by the guys. Two hours of screaming, waving my hands side to side, singing along. Two hours of looking at Joe and Jordan through binoculars thinking they look so hot and wondering what their wives think of all this. Two hours of enjoying it all. It definitely exceeded my expectations.
I would do it all over again, and if they come back around, I'd go again. Fun times.
Now I must go back to the real world....or maybe I'll let myself dream for a couple more days...
3 comments:
I am glad that you had such a good time. It is definitely fun to go down memory lane.
My sis, a couple of sis-in-laws, and I are going in Nov in SLC. Sounds like a fun concert. I'll be sure to get there a little late to miss the Jamaican chic.
That's amazing that your dad took you to a concert when you were little. I think my dad would rather have died than taken me to an NKOTB concert. And boy, am I jealous that you got to see them LIVE! You're living my dream, TK. :)
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